Card-index system



J. W. DOWNING.

CARD INDEX SYSTfM. AP-PL|CA T|ON man MR. 5, 1919.

Patsnted May 18, 1920.

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CARD INDEX SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED mm. 5. 1919.

1,34O,384 Patented May 18, 1920'.

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JOHN W. DOWLNING, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.-

CARD-INDEX SYSTEM.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J OHN W. DOWNING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rockford, in the county of Winnebago and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and. useful Improvements in Gard-Index Systems, of which the following is a specification. v

The invention relates to card index systerns, and has for one of its objects the proally stated, together with other and ancil-'- lary advanta es, are obtained by'the construction an arrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood, however, that inthe construction of'the appended claims, I do not in tend that the invention shall be limited to the particular construction and arrangement illustrated; and hereinafter described except as may be necessitated by the state of the prior'art. i

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a card index embodying the features of my invention, mostof the cards being removed for the sake of'clearness.

, Fig. 2 is a transverse, sectional view taken of line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is afragmentary, sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken in the plane of line 33 of Fig. 1. Figs. 4 to 7 are plan views illustrating the manner of positioning the notches in accordance with the data on the cards, to insure that the cards shall be properly filed. Fig. 8 is a planview of illustrated and described in connection with a card index used for filing cards accord ing "to the States of the United Statesand .to the cities of such States, a separate section. in the index being allotted to each State. Only a few of such sections, how- Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 18, 192d.

Application filed March 5, 1919. Serial No. 280,717.

ever, are shown in the card index illustrated. Thus, referring to Fig. 1, the casing 1 is shown as being provided with six partitions 2, dividing the case into five sections a, b, c, d, and 6, adapted to receive cards .90, for the States Illinois, Michgan, Minnesota, OhlOi and WVisconsin, respectively, (FigsxQ and 4 to 7). In Fig. 1 cards are shown as filed in section at only, the cards of theother sections not being shown for the sake of clearness. I

In order that the cards for a given State shall be properlyfiled, each section of the case is provided on the bottom thereof with a pair of bars or ribs 3 and 8 spaced apart, and each of'the cards to be filed in that section is provided in its lower edge with a pair of notches 4 and. 4 correspondingly spaced apart. .Two'ribs are provided in order that a plurality of combinations may be made to avoid the necessity of providing a differently located rib for each of the forty-eight States as would be necessary if one rib only were provided for each State. Herein I have arranged all of the States into three sets so that the cards of the States of a given set have their notches 4 located in the same position in the edge of the card and the corresponding sections of the caseadapted to receive such cards, have their ribs 3 positioned alike. The notches 4 however, of the cardsand the ribs 8 of the sections, are. positioned differently for the several .States. For example, in Fig. 1 sections 1), c, and cl are adapted to receive the cards of three different States in a single set, namely, Minnesota, Michiganand Ohio. Accordingly, the cards shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 2 have their notches 4 similarly positioned and the;

ribs 3 ofsaid sections (Fig. 1) are also similarly positioned. It will be noted, however, that the notches 4 and ribs 3* of the severalStates, are differently positioned- Preferably the partitions 2 are hollow in form, being made of sheet metal (Fig. 3) and at their lower edges they are provided with openings 5. adapted to neatly receive the ribs 3 and 3 If desired',-the ribs 3 of the sections of each set, being similarly located transversely of the case, may be in the form of a single continuous strip, and in this event two alined openings 5 are pro vided'i'n the opposite walls 2' and 2 of the hollow partitions 9/ so that the strip may be extended through the partition. When,

construction having a table 8 and plunger 9,-

however, the ribs terminate in a partition, as, for instance, the ribs 3 of each section, and the ribs 3 entering the partitions between sections of different sets, the openings 5 are provided in one wall only of the partition and the ends of the ribs, entered through said opening, abut against the in-- ner surface of the opposite wall. Thus it will be observed that the ribs serve to main- .several sections of the case, the notches 6 of all cards bearing the names of cities which commence with the same letter, will be in ahnement, (Fig. 1) and any card which is not filed according to the proper city, will be quickly detected.

Referring now to Fig. 8, the means for facilitating the accurate formation of the notches in the cards will be described. 7 indicates, generally, a punch of any preferred the latter being provided on its lower end with a trian ularly shaped cutter 10 (dotted lines). pon'the table 8 I have provided two tabular guides 11 and 12 for use in notching two different sizes of cards, one guide being located at one side of the plunger and the other upon the other side of the plunger. Each guide may consist of four columns, the States of the United States being arranged into three sets or columns and the letters of the alphabet being arranged in the fourth column.

In the use of the device, a card which is to be filed, for example in the Illinois section a of the case, is placedface down upon the proper guide, as, for instance, 12, and since Illinois is in the first set, the righthand edge of the card is first brought into ahnement with the transverse line 12* ad- I jacent the words Set 1 and the punch operated to form a notch 4. Thereupon the same edge of the'card is brought into alinement with the corresponding line 12 adjacent the abbreviated word Ills. and the punch again operated to form a notch 4*. To form a notch 6, for the city, in the upper edge of the card, for instance, for thename Aurora, the card is placed face up upon the table 8 with its right-hand edge registering with the line 12 adjacent the letter A on the guide, and the punch operated.

It will be apparent that I have provided a card index of improved construction and arrangement wherein means of a practical of partitions dividing the case into sections for receiving separate groups of cards, each of said sections having a pair of longitudinally extendin g ribs in its bottom adapted to maintain the partitions spaced apart and in upright position, the ribs of the several sections being spaced at varying distances apart, and the cards of the several groups being provided with notches in their lower edges adapted to receive the ribs of their respective sections.

2. A card index having, in combination, a plurality of cards, a case, and a plurality of partitions dividing the case into sections for receiving separate groups of cards, said sections having longitudinally extending ribs in their bottoms, and the cards to be filed having notches in their lower edges adapted to receive the ribs of the sections in which they areto be filed, said partitions each comprising two spaced walls and having openings in one wall into which ribs are adapted to be entered so as to abut against the opposite wall whereby the partitions are spaced apart and maintained in upright position.

3. A card index having, in combination, a plurality of cards, a case, and a plurality of partitions dividing the case into sections for receiving separate groups of cards, each of said sections having a pair of longitudinally extending ribs in its bottom, and each of said cards to be filed having a pair of notches in its lower edge-adapted to relower edges adapted to neatly receive the ribs.

4. A card index system. comprising in combination with a card index having a plurality of cards, and a case divided into a plurality of separate sections arranged in sets and each adapted to receive a separate group of cards, each card having a pair of notches therein one of which ispositioned according to the section in which the card belongs and the other of which is positioned according to the set in which the section belongs, said sections having ribs arranged so that-they will enter the notches in the cards when properly filed; means for forming the notches in the cards comprising a cutter and a tabular guide associated therewith,

said guide being adapted to "indicate, the

proper positions in which the card is to be placed relative to the cutter for the operations of forming said setand section notches.

5. In a card index system including a plurality of cards to, be filed, means for forming notches in said cards to guard against the commission of errors ;in filing, said means comprising a tabular gnide and a cutter 1 associated therewith, said guide b eing adaptedtoindicate the proper location of 10 the notches as determined by the data on the cards to be filed. I v In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

' JOHNW. DOWNING. 

